Brits refuse to ditch emerging market stocks

Michael Bow is a reporter at City A.M. covering private equity, funds, investments and asset managers. He can be reached on michael.bow@cityam.com

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Michael Bow

BRITISH investors are staying loyal to emerging markets despite billions of dollars being pulled from the troubled regions last year, according to a poll.

Just nine per cent of UK shareholders said they had rotated away from emerging markets, despite share price performance lagging the rest of the world by 30 per cent last year.

The number of UK investors fleeing emerging markets is the lowest in the world, with Hong Kong investors the most pessimistic region, according to Legg Mason.

Emerging markets, which include countries like Brazil and China, were the darlings of the stock market at the turn of the decade but soured due to slowing growth prospects.

Investors pulled about $28.5bn (£16.9bn) from the regions last year after the prospect of Federal Reserve tapering was introduced.

The research, which polled 4,000 people across 20 countries, found UK investors bullish on the next 12 months, with nearly half citing emerging markets as their preferred asset class. This compared favourably with 31 per cent who said they preferred the US and 22 per cent backing Europe.